XVI.

Bullets and Preys

I woke up with the rays of the sun caressing my skin. I opened my eyes and heard the birds chirping outside my window. It was the first day of summer. After a full season of rain and storms, the sun has finally came out and showed itself to us. I looked around and realized that my husband was nowhere in sight. I dragged the blankets with me as I looked down the window to see if he was by the beach. Waves crashed over the sands. The foam outlined the shore as far as the eye could see. After the marriage, Ethan and me decided to buy a house at La Push. This way, we were still near my family and he can roam around the small town with freedom.

I smiled as I thought that I was finally married. I was happy and finally contented. I looked back at the sad, miserable memories that I have and they seemed so distant as if they happened in a dream that I was now partially forgetting. My life with him is what's important. I've loved, lost, and learned a lot ever since I unknowingly entered the world of the mythical and became one of them. I've always thought I was a monster for phasing into a wolf but I've learned that everything is for a reason. I have protected so many innocent lives and I have finally found eternal happiness for the vampire who now owns my heart.

I looked at the silver ring that was now on my hand. It was my wedding ring. My engagement ring was gold and he decided to give me another one except this time it was silver. A golden heart was etched in the band, in the exact opposite of the huge diamond. Inside the heart was the saying: "This heart will be dead without you". I laughed at the irony of that statement. His ring was also silver but in the band was a golden wolf. I didn't put any special saying because I thought he wasn't going to. My heart sank when I saw the ring was etched with a saying.

He laughed when I confessed it. "You just have to make up the whole eternity then by staying with me."

I got dressed and headed down the stairs. It was weird how big this house was. Every furniture, even the walls were all white and the windows were just wide. I didn't like the dullness of the color at first but then it gave me some kind of weird peace whenever I come home.

The windows let in a lot of light that seemed to be focused on one thing, like a spotlight, when I entered the living room. He glistened like gems and took my breath away. I was extremely fortunate that I have him. I pushed him away so many times but he didn't leave. Danger had kept us from happiness yet he chose me when he could have chosen to be with Jane. It was amazing how this vampire can love a wolf.

"OK, what are you staring at? You've never seen me shine before?" he suddenly asked, not bothering to look up from the newspaper he was reading.

"Well, I guess I just never get tired of looking," I teased back. He looked up, smiled, and motioned me to sit down beside him. He folded the newspaper away and wrapped his arms around me.

"Good morning, honey," he whispered, planting a cold, hard kiss on my cheek.

"You're beginning to get sarcastic now, huh?" I teased. He laughed but did not reply. We sat there, in silence, enjoying each other's touch. There was no reason to get intimate right away. We do that a lot at night so in the morning, it's just calm, gentle touch. I broke away from his touch and stood up.

I always cook meals. On our first night, I cooked only for myself, thinking that he did not need to eat but he wanted to taste what I cooked. Ever since then, he insisted that I should cook meals for two people. I don't know why he is eating the food that I cooked but I know he doesn't find it delicious. Of course, it's all right, but then vampires have different tastes and they prefer blood. I have never eaten human food in their eyes but I am sure that they don't like it very much. If they did, then why do vampires still drinking blood?

As if he read my mind, Ethan suddenly said,"I don't mean any disrespect to your cooking but I'm going hunting today. I don't really like drinking the blood in the meats that you buy from the supermarket. They're not very fresh."

"Who said to drink them anyways?" I asked. He has been living off those things for awhile now. Even if I was a vampire, I wouldn't drink that.

"Well, I'm just trying out different ways of feeding myself," he replied courtly.

"I'm not stopping you. You know you don't have to eat, right?" I asked.

"I want you to experience someone actually eating what you cook, besides yourself. Besides, people will get suspicious if you only buy food that are for you only. They would think you're not letting me eat or something."

"True enough," I agreed. There was a brief silence where we both ate our foods, wrapped in our own thoughts.

"I was wondering whether you would like to come hunt with me," he suddenly said. He looked hopeful. I have only eaten raw animal meat and I must say it wasn't my favorite food though I must admit that it served its purpose. If I ever was in a situation where I have to be a wolf, then that would really come in handy. I mean, I could steal human food but I don't really want to freak out the humans if I do that.

"Yeah, sure," I replied.

"You don't have to hunt but you could watch, though," he said, now sounding unsure about his plan.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll hunt with you."

"Then I would have to teach you," he smiled.

I shook my head. "I'm a wolf. Don't you think that wolves should know how to hunt?"

"Well do you?"

"Of course. Though I don't really hunt that much at all. Well, I don't hunt at all."

"Well, let's make it some kind of our hobby," he said. He was calm but I could tell he was excited about it too.

"Eiw! Hunt animals all the time? No thanks," I replied, shaking my head. I felt his cheerfulness decrease alarmingly. I didn't want him to be unhappy so I added,"But if you want, then I will go with you."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," he said trying to hide the happiness but I shook my head and he smiled,"Thank you, baby."

Around noon, I didn't bother cooking lunch. We were planning to hunt the rest of the day. I don't really know how vampires hunt so I watched with fascination to every move he makes. I was kind of getting excited too as I waited for him to go.

"When we're in the woods, you have to phase. Its harder to catch something when you're in human form," he instructed. "From what I saw when I was...watching you, you're a pretty fast runner so that would actually be in our advantage," he said, a little embarrassed as he admits that he once stalked me.

"Well, I guess you haven't seen anything yet," I replied playfully. He smiled and we got going. Once we were outside, I immediately phased back into a wolf. I noticed that I was alone. I reckon the boys must be doing their own thing right now. We walked into the forest that surrounded our backyard. We avoided the driveway that led to the road just in case a car got lost and decided to turn to that driveway.

Once we were in the deep forest, Ethan started his work. He did not have any special powers like some of the Cullens but he was an amazing tracker. He could track anyone with just a wisp of their scent. Carlisle considered this as a special ability but he just whispered to me that he only have a very strong nose; a nose that was as strong as a dog's.

He crouched low and examined a fresh footprint. He then bent lower to smell the footprint before straightening up. I know he has amazing senses, just a bit stronger than mine. I knew right away that he knows everything about the footprint: what animal created it, how old it was, and how many there actually were.

He climbed through trees and started jumping from treetop to treetop. I bolted after him. It was hard following him because I had to look up at the trees while I ran. I would hit something that was in my way. He jumped back down right in front of me without a sound. Its amazing how he does that.

"Its a huge herd of deer. One of them is injured and dying. I think it's easier if we put him out of his misery. You can pick anyone of the deer you want, though but I'm going with this one," he whispered quietly. He then sprinted away. I ran after him. He moved with such stealth and agility that I did not hear a sound coming from him. My paws pounding the earth created a steady rhythm were the only sound that I could hear.

In a clump of bushes, he crouched low and peeked through between branches. He was watching something and when I caught up with him, he pressed his forefinger against his lips. He beckoned me forward and I sat beside him to look through the branches. I saw the huge herd that he was talking about earlier on. He pointed to a deer that was barely standing up. It has a deep wound on its side and the antlers were all broken.

"I think a mountain lion did that. It just narrowly escaped being the prey but its really suffering. Pick the one that you want," he instructed as he crept silently towards the unsuspecting preys. Without warning he pounced with one swift move and launched his self to the wounded deer. The animal didn't have the chance to move, it was frozen on the spot. He held it firmly by the neck as he shouted,"Leah, go get them!"

I didn't know what to do. It was a long time ago since I first went hunting and ever since then I never tried. I pounced to one of the biggest deer in the herd. It was one of the animals that were scurrying to escape. I sank my teeth at the animal's neck and blood rushed freely from the animal and into my mouth. My body instinctively pulled away from the animal as the metallic taste brushed my tongue. I reeled into myself and let the animal hunger that was deep inside me come out. I let the wolf inside me take over and it found the meat extremely satisfying. I looked up and saw Ethan crouched over his prey. At first, he looked like he was actually aiding to the animal but of course, he was satisfying his own hunger.

I ran to the sanctuary of my mind and let the animal instinct take control once again. Being in that state, everything was sharper than before as if I let my whole potential out. I smelled a scent that was not from the dead carcass in front of me or the sweet sickly smell from my husband. It was delicious but it was also forbidden. My mouth yearned for the taste of that smell but I knew that if I let that taste touch my lips, I would be forever filthy. Then I heard the sound that these creatures were saying. I could tell that there were two of them and that they were more or less five miles from where we were. It was still a bit far away but it was not safe for them to be near the world's most dangerous predators of the world.

Thinking quickly, I phased back to a human and every sharpened sense was taken from me. Ethan whipped towards me, a dangerous look on his face that I have only seen once before. He quickly gathered himself. He must have sensed the trouble coming from this distance also.

"Ethan, hide!" I screamed. The humans cannot see him at this state. I cannot let him kill the two approaching us quickly. He was in a state where he cannot control himself and if they come any nearer, I know that he wouldn't be able to resist their smell.

"What about you? They can't see you with the two dead bodies of these deer. I can't stand to think what they'll do to you," he answered firmly, walking away from his prey and grabbing my hand. His grip was soft yet firm when he tried to drag me away. I pulled my hand back and refused to move any more.

"You hide. You can't be seen by those men. It's all right. They'll think I'm a wolf who got a little bit greedy and killed two deer," I told him urgently and started pushing him away. I could hear the humans in the area already. Without enough time to argue, he regretfully turned away. He ran to the tallest tree a few yards away and climbed it, out of sight.

"I saw the huge herd, trust me, Joe," a deep voice said that was too near for my liking. I instantly phased back to my wolf form and resumed eating the deer.

Leah? A curious voice said inside my head. I was shocked.

Jacob! Where are you? He showed me a picture of a clump of trees not far from his and Nessie's house.

Where are you? Is that meat I'm smelling?

Yeah I hunted. It's a long story, I'll tell you when I see you, OK? I told him as the other man spoke.

"I don't hear anything now," a much higher voice said as they finally appeared. I turned to them and they froze. I could tell that they were petrified at the sight of the small gray wolf. The men were both carrying shotguns while their other hands were carrying daggers to skin their game. One of the men was huge. To me, he didn't look that smart. He had blond hair and blank blue eyes. The other had a mess of brown hair on his head. He looked like a mouse and was eyeing the dead deer that lay in front of me.

What are you doing hunting near humans? My Alpha asked alarmed and angered.

They came. I didn't know that they were near and I thought we were alone.

We? He repeated suspiciously.

Yeah. I'm here with Ethan.

Where is he now?

I told him to hide. I don't think he can control himself if humans came too close to him.

But shouldn't he have checked the area first?

We did. These two wandered way too far and we're near the Reservation. No pale face are allowed to hunt in these areas.

Jacob was about to reply when the big man with the blank blue eyes spoke,"Awww it got to the herd first."

"Don't worry about it, Joe. We could shoot her. I mean look at her. She's a beauty! We could make millions if we skin her," the mousy one said, aiming at me with the shotgun in his hand.

Leah! Jacob scream in my head. I thought I could hear him but I realized that it was Ethan screaming my name. Sensing the danger right away, both for my safety and the humans', I pounced and grabbed the gun from the man with one swift move that I saw Ethan make just moments ago.

Without any other choice, the man let go of his gun and was forced on his butt at the same time. I spat the bent weapon at the side before it could be fired. He then grabbed the other guy's hand and aimed for me once again. I pounced but I was a second late. He fired just as I flew up in the air. The bullet hit me squarely on the chest and blood rained on the ground.

Leah! Leah! Are you all right?! Jacob shouted in my head, panic leaking all over his head.

I'm shot and... I-I-I don't know. It hurts really bad. I replied, panting even in my head. I heard a thud and Ethan came running at my side. The men looked up at him and was surprised.

"Who are you?" the mousy man asked.

"I saw what you did. I'm a biologist and don't you know that this kind of wolf is endangered? You could go to jail for what you just did," Ethan said in a serious voice. It was quiet but he was trying everything to control it. He looked at me thrashing on the floor but the bleeding was already seizing. That was a bad sign because the bullet was still engraved inside my body. He bent down towards me and whispered assuring,"You're gonna be all right, honey. Just stay calm."

"Come on, Dwayne, let's go. We don't want to be arrested, come on!" the big guy said, pulling the smaller man. Ethan looked at them with ferocity that I have only seen once. He looked like that when he confronted Jacob about my wounds. The man looked scared but he didn't move. I thought that Ethan would have to kill the man for him to just go. But the mousy man turned and ran away from the scene.

"Leah, Leah. Are you all right? I'm so sorry, Leah, I'm so sorry," he cooed. I phased back involuntarily. The wound showed itself. It was engraved in my breastbone. If he didn't get it out, it can damage my heart.

"You have to keep the wound open," I said hoarsely.

"No! I'm not going to hurt you!" he refused.

"You need to unless you want the bullet to stay engraved in my body!" I told him, my voice barely a silent whisper.

With a finger, he dug down to the wound and broke some skin to keep the wound from healing. I sucked in my breath to keep myself from whimpering and all the while I could feel myself slipping to the unconscious.

He lifted my naked form and ran. I don't know where he was going to take me, probably to Carlisle. While he ran, he kept making new wounds as the older ones closes to keep the bullet from going in.

The huge white house loomed in the distance. When he saw it, he increased his speed. He stormed in, screaming Carlisle's name.

"What happened?" Bella asked as Ethan climbed up the stairs where Carlisle's instruments were.

"We were hunting and she got shot," he replied. His voice broke. I did not know if vampires produce tears but I was sure that if they did, he would be crying right now.

"Settle her down here," Carlisle said. I was placed in something cold and the only thing that I could see was the white light coming from the light in the ceiling. Then I slipped out into the unconscious.